Hey guys, I'm just wondering if Steam market transactions count as income. I live in Canada, and Steam doesn't have any of my personal-personal information (credit card [not that I own one...], SIN, address, etc...). However, I've been doing a LOT of sales on the Steam market. I've already received the 200 sales notification from Steam a long time ago. They didn't ask for any sensitive information, and I don't remember reading the ToS before I clicked accept (not like many of you do either xD)

I started buying people games from the Canadian store region this year, and thus far, I've made total sales of CDN$11,734.58 (according to Steam Enhanced) on the market. My profit margin is VERY low, as I have only kept like less than 1% of those sales (but the number is still growing as other traders are still giving me their CS:GO/TF2 keys to sell and buy them games).

Some people say that the IRS start coming after you once you've exceeded US$20,000. The IRS belongs to the US though. Anybody had experience with this? Even if a Canadian agency taxes me, I'll still be taxed for more money than I've kept! I have no doubt in my mind that I'll hit US$20,000 by the end of the winter sale if I continue at this rate.

9 years ago

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Don't worry about it, the IRS has no jurisdiction in Canada

9 years ago*
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+1 and website rarely charge tax on item, even some that are located in canada will only charge 1 tax instead of both

9 years ago
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While that's true, Your own country may deem any sales as taxable - EG In Australia (where I am) ALL sales in the steam market are considered Income - Anything over 5c that is not reported to the ATO (like the US IRS) can land you a fine up to $20,000 and/or 5 years Imprisonment.

9 years ago
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Not every province has P.S.T.
If you are in Alberta and you purchase maple syrup from an online store based in Qc, the Qc P.S.T isn't supposed to be charged. IF, however, you are in Qc and you purchase online from a Qc based store the P.S.T. is supposed to be applied

9 years ago
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I guess you're not familiar with the United States - Canada Income Tax Treaty then.

9 years ago
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Nope, i am not at all familiar with it...can i assume it deals with cross-border persecution of tax cheats?

EDIT: Bahaha, i meant prosecution not persecution

9 years ago
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I'm sure it has provision for that, but basically it covers how citizens from the U.S. making money here in Canada report that income and, vice versa, how Canadian citizens making U.S. income report that income. It also covers how much information is shared between both the IRS and the CRA. So, theoretically, if a Canadian were "caught" making U.S. income, the IRS could notify the CRA who might then choose to levy taxes or conduct an audit or whatever they do.

9 years ago
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Gotcha, thanks for the info.
Man, you Albertans sure are smart ;)

9 years ago
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Don't bother with it. Also they would ask about revenue and profit and see that your profit is very small anyways.

9 years ago
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I can't spend Steam credit to buy food, or clothes, or hookers, so why would the government count it as income? I really don't get that...

9 years ago
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this

it's a closed system, what gets in doesn't get out

9 years ago
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This comment was deleted 2 months ago.

9 years ago
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You can buy TF2 keys with credit and sell them for real Paypal money. It happens all the time. So it's not really a closed system.

9 years ago
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it's in fact not a closed system.
Buy games/game related items and resell them on ebay or any other site you like.

9 years ago*
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That's against the TOS though, if they catch you then they can ban your account.

9 years ago
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but thats not the point. I just wanted to mention that it is in fact not a closed system at all.
And many people trade their stuff for real money on steamtrades or other sites.
That means you can buy yourself something to eat with steammoney.

9 years ago
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But it's closed, these ppl are breaking contract. They could be sued by valve if they choose to. But yes I understand it could be used to launder money like that. ATM there's no way legally to do so. Not like people care but yes I understand they can still do that. In terms of valves tos it's closed since they don't give you a way around it. Ppl just find ways around it themselves.

9 years ago
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That's between you and Valve, not necessarily valid and legal and most of all irrelevant. I don't think there's a country in the world where alleged violation of a private agreement (like a TOS) is a valid reason for tax exemption.

9 years ago
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But it's not against the law to sell these items. Those people can do what they want, whether if they get banned or not.
Only because valve wants you to not sell your virtual items doesn't mean you must not.
You can convert you steammoney to your local currency within hours/minutes. And if we are still talking about taxation of income then I think that this is the only thing that actually matters.

Because this is nothing between you and valve, it's between you and the state/country you live in.
And that is the reason I think it's not a closed system. Because it's not an illigal action to ignore the TOS of any company. (At east not where I live).

At least that's what I think.
*I'm not a native English speaker but I guess you will somehow understand what I want to say. :)

9 years ago
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i completed the information that you need to complete once you are 170 items sold and it"s the same of your credit card information with out your card number.

You shouldn't be worry

9 years ago
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9 years ago
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Ah, I've already purchased that game through the bundle while at school today (Forgot to about my purchase completely until now).

Thanks for the invite though ^^ I appreciate it.

9 years ago
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Have you activated your key for this yet?

9 years ago
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Not yet. I usually activate keys after school but I usually also forget to.

9 years ago
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Then join my giveaway and use yours if you don't win :D

9 years ago
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I'd love to, but I have a key myself and I'd rather someone else have a higher chance to win it so they can experience the game :D

I don't play most of the games I buy, so a giveaway would be wasted on me anyways xP

9 years ago
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200 transactions is way to low. i will not give valve my SSN. i guess they are trying to make it more difficult for the bot users, but those people must have transactions in the thousands. I am sure they would go after someone if they have transactions over $20k, even though it is play money. did Valve want market included in this stupid government requirement or did morons in the government require Valve?

9 years ago
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Valve was required. If you make too much on market in the US, IRS comes after you for taxing.

9 years ago
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Theoretically, your Steam earnings could be seen as income and, by law, you would be required to report it. Judging from what I've read, it appears that it doesn't matter which agency you report the income to because the U.S.-Canada Income Tax Treaty allows you to report foreign income here in Canada and they should theoretically forward that it was already reported and taxed to the IRS. However, since I'm not a tax specialist, you may want to get exact advice from some place like your local H&R Block branch or something. It's up to you whether you want to actually do that to cover your ass at least as there's no telling what scrutiny the Steam store gets from agencies like the IRS.

9 years ago
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Ah, thank you. I have not hit the $20,000 limit yet, but I suppose it's time to set up alt accounts like some of my fellow traders or quit the practice altogether.

Though I think alt accounts would be a bad idea.

9 years ago
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Well, again, I'm not a tax specialist and I guess my advice here is a bit biased by my own paranoia. So I don't want to sound like I'm trying to rain on your parade or anything. I'm just presenting things as I understand them... some of this knowledge is because I was in a similar tax situation a short while ago when I was making profits from Bitcoin sales.

The decision is really up to you... because you're right... the tax may be substantial. And, in all reality, not everyone is even as honest to even consider asking the question you did and I'd bet a good number of them make off like bandits and don't bother reporting anything. But even that, I'm not sure of.... so take this last bit with a grain of salt.

9 years ago
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Well, I wanted to ask before I hit the maximum of tax-free sales. You're definitely not raining on my parade, and your information does help. I just don't want to end up having to pay a large fee (my profit is not even a quarter of what I'll have to pay once I hit 20k USD in sales).

I thought about it and alts are out of the question because that practice is definitely a form of tax evasion (since all accounts you create and their sales/purchases on the market are tied to you)

9 years ago
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